Political analyst predicts few conservatives in Iranian parliament

The political currents will unite their efforts to reduce the number of conservatives in the parliament in the upcoming parliamentary election to be held in Iran on February 26, Iranian political analyst Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, working in Germany, said.

"The conservatives close to the camp of moderates and reformists will be represented in the next parliament," he told Trend Dec. 2.

"During the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005-2013, representing the conservative camp, the country's economy suffered as a result of corruption and sanctions, Iran was isolated from the world community," he said. "As a result, Iranian people less supported the candidates from this camp."

He said that the election held in Iran for the last 20 years shows that the reformists have a greater chance to win the parliamentary election.

"The Guardian Council of the Constitution's attitude to be demonstrated while approving the powers of candidates is important, rather than the people's choice," he said. "If the Council toughly approves the powers of the reformist candidates, then people will not have much choice in the voting. In this case, a paradoxical situation will be observed in the reformist camp. They will be unable to boycott the election and introduce their candidates."

He said that first of all, the reformists will try to reduce the number of conservatives in the parliament.

"There are 60 representatives in the parliament from the camp of conservatives, who are supporters of former president Ahmadinejad and the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability headed by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi," he said. "The efforts will be made for their number to decrease to 10-15 people and to replace them by those moderate, close to speaker Ali Larijani."

The parliamentary election is held in Iran every four years. The previous election was held in March 2012. Currently, Iran's parliament consists of 290 MPs and the Speaker is Ali Larijani.
The reformists and conservatives will be the main competitors in the election in February 2016. The Guardian Council of the Constitution controls the election and the process of approving the powers of the candidates. The parties are competing in three camps in Iran - the camp of conservatives, reformists and moderates. The camp of reformists includes 47 parties, the conservatives - 35 parties, moderate - 25 parties, but only 10-15 of them are active.